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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Kimchi Fried Rice

Back when I started grad school, my classmates and I discovered the most amazing hole in the wall restaurant with the world's greatest kimchi fried rice: Gushi. It's the rare restaurant whose name describes how you feel after eating there. Best of all, it was right across from grad housing, so any big problem set or cume studying bender had to be accompanied by a trip there. Then I moved and found that there was another Gushi a block away. This Gushi, however, tried to be a fancy sit down restaurant and just never seemed as good. The moral of the story- kimchi fried rice should be quick and dirty. Its flavors do all the work.

Sauté the kimchi, onion and garlic in 1/2 tbsp of the butter over medium heat until the veggies start to become translucent.

Stir in half the soy sauce and another 1/2 tbsp of butter. Continue cooking for another 2 minutes.

Add the beefless tips, the rest of the soy sauce and bacon salt and cook until the faux meat is heated through. Most of the best Korean dishes are pork based, so it's nice to impart that flavor without using actual pork.

Turn off the heat and add the pre-cooked rice and remaining butter. Stir until the rice is completely coated.

Top with a fried egg and serve.

You can also make this dish with steamed tempeh instead of the beefless tips. The tempeh really absorbs the kimchi flavor. Also, the marinated kimchi provides all the spiciness you'll need, but feel free to add some sriracha to take it to another level.